<p>See I'm not sure that's still the case. If there is one school I've been impressed with, it's Boston College. They have really shot up in their reputation and selectivity (it went down)... they are what sub-30% now? That's extremely good, given they were considered subpar just some years ago. I've always thought they were a great place and from what I understand, their kids get placed in some great jobs (esp. the Business School)...</p>
<p>How is Fordham generally seen in the career world? I know that NYC companies and firms heavily recruit Fordham grads, and that the alumni have great connections in that area, but what's the general view of Fordham?</p>
<p>I too have heard Fordham has great connections in the nyc area... love to hear thoughts about Fordham elsewhere as well...</p>
<p>I'm sure that BC attracts a lot more applications now that their football team plays in the ACC and so they are on television every weekend and so general public awareness of the school is much higher than probably even Georgetown. I do not know how qualified the applicant pool is as a whole however.</p>
<p>i'm sure the general public is more aware of Georgetown (whether b/c of it's basketball past or present) than Boston College.</p>
<p>Applications at BC were 31,000 whereas they were 18,000 at Georgetown.</p>
<p>Yeah, I'll admit that BC is a lot more well known in the general public than Gtown, I think it was ranked the #1 college that parents wanted their children to attend in Newsweek or some such other magazine.</p>
<p>BC benefits from people liking the city of Boston a lot since it is a very attractive and vibrant historic city and assuming therefore that going to college in Boston is a great idea and therefore "Boston College" is an obvious choice. A lot of people are initially unaware it is a Catholic college whereas on the other hand everyone knows that "Holy Cross" is Catholic and assume it is ultra religious which it is not, at least not any more than other Jesuit colleges.</p>
<p>simpson... I be intersted to read that article and see what other colleges were ranked high with BC...</p>
<p>Well I just googled it, and apparently the latest ranking puts it at #6 for colleges that parents wished their child attended, but I do remember reading it as #1 a few years ago. Interesting to see Georgetown at #10, I wasn't expecting that. Here's a link:</p>
<p>Princeton Review's Academic Ranking for BC is only 88 and it is 92 for Georgetown and Notre Dame and only 81 for Fordham.</p>
<p>When Georgetown alumni are the current (Jordan, Bosnia, Phillipines), future (Spain) and recent past (United States) heads of state for 5 major and 3 of the 30 most populous nations in the world; run the national security apparatus of the world's only superpower (Secretary Gates and NSA advisor General Jones); run the the European Commission; hold the Senate Majority Whip and House Majority Leader positions in the US Congress; have one of the nine Supreme Court seats and the last US Solicitor General position; and have one of the five Board of Governors seats at the Federal Reserve, it kinds of makes it rather silly for anyone to compare Georgetown's reach, influence and quality with that of any other Catholic university. One could even plausibly argue that on a per capita basis, Georgetown is the leading incubator of leadership in the world today outside of a handful of Ivy League schools. When a university has this kind of influence and gravitas, any publication that fails to recognize that influence has a problem and one that Georgetown should not not waste one moment's time worrying about.</p>
<p>Ah, but where did the chief speechwriter of the president-elect go to college? Also, this college has a person on the supreme court as well.</p>
<p>Yeah, its a Jesuit conspiracy to rule the world and keep the evil, satanic Duke Blue Devils that cause constitutional crises (Richard Nixon), humanitarian disasters (Claude Allen and Hurrican Katrina), and economic catastrpohes (Ric Waggoner at GM) from power. (This is tongue and cheek humor by the way).</p>
<p>alright... Gtown top 10 on both parents and student's list... sweet</p>
<p>Hmmm. Why hasn't anyone on this thread cited the Georgetown alumnus who ascended to the most powerful office on Earth?</p>
<p>
[quote]
...it kinds of makes it rather silly for anyone to compare Georgetown's reach, influence and quality with that of any other Catholic university.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Okay, so...having a lot of alumni in politics makes Georgetown the best Catholic university? Um...I don't see the correlation between the data you presented and the quality of the school. Maybe "reach" and "influence" can be argued based on what you said, but the number of high-standing politicians that graduated from a certain school hardly says a thing about that school's academic quality. The most it could say is that the school has damn good programs in political science and international relations (which Georgetown does). But what about the 20-or-so other major academic disciplines? Do you just assume that Georgetown is equally superlative in those as well? What about science and engineering? Or theology and philosophy? I believe ND's programs easily trump Gtown's in just about all of those.</p>
<p>What about endowment?</p>
<p>Georgetown: $964 million
Notre Dame: $7 billion</p>
<p>In other words, Notre Dame has over 7 times as much money in the bank as Georgetown. So much for most "reach" or "influence"...</p>
<p>The endowment point is both valid and exhausted on this board - we do recognize our endowment is smaller given Georgetown's status...</p>
<p>I'm not supporting indiejimmy... but when we talk about how great Gtown is, maybe we can try not to put down other universities, b/c there is about a million points to argue and compare... ND is a fine institution, but this is the Gtown board, it's tough not to get a bit excited... ;)</p>
<p>Indiejimmy, I don't want to get into a huge posting war or anything, but do you see the irony of deriding the concept of basing a school's quality on political influence, then turning around and trying to base the school's quality instead on the size of its endowment?</p>
<p>Again, I'm not denying what you said, but both of those points are really only quasi-valid to the discussion at hand.</p>
<p>Indie jimmy- When you go for a job, is the first thing an employer going to ask you is how much money your school has in the bank? When you apply for graduate school, does the application have a place to put a school's endowment figure in the corner? When the footbal team takes the field in their solid gold helmets, do the other guys just run away( not lately, which has really agitated me as I have been a fan for many years)?</p>
<p>If someone asks me, is the worth of a school, what its alumni contribute to changing the world or how much money it has, I would rather answer by affirming the former. I actually think Notre Dame has a bit of a public relations problem from the NY Times article of several years ago where Fr. Jenkins stated that Notre Dame's strategy was to raise its tuition to attract students and that the tuition being equal or close to Harvards was something he was quite proud of. </p>
<p>Remember, money is a lot like having a large member, it is not how big it is but how you use it.</p>